A massive opportunity lies just off shore
Sometimes, the biggest breakthroughs come from surprising places. Around the world, the aviation industry, academic institutions and biofuel companies are working together to accelerate the development of one of the most promising sources of aviation biofuel in the long term – the microscopic and ubiquitous plants that can be grown almost anywhere known as algae.
It is widely agreed that the contribution of fossil fuels to global climate change is a major issue that industry and society has to urgently address. Biomass from micro algae has been demonstrated at laboratory scale to be a viable source of low carbon bio-fuel for aviation. The challenge ahead is to industrialise this process at a very large scale so that its outputs can begin to make significant contributions to global aviation fuel needs. And yet the demands on scarce land and fresh water from aquatic biomass cultivation must be kept to an absolute minimum or avoided altogether.
The Sea Green project is a near-shore ocean-based facility for the sustainable production of large volumes of biomass for aviation biofuels. It is designed to use the expanse of the world’s near shore oceans to rapidly grow micro algae as biofuel feedstock at a faster rate than any other initiative and capture CO2 from the atmosphere and seas at the same time. The Sea Green concept would envisage very large floating structures to be placed in the ocean close to shore on which the cultivation of micro-algae would occur. This can be done in an environmentally-friendly, sustainable facility with a negative carbon mechanism that does not compete with agricultural land, does not require fresh water and does not damage the environment.
Once the micro-algae have been cultivated, they will be sent for processing much like any other biomass on land.
The benefits of moving off-shore
As a project, Sea Green is unique in combining technologies for very large floating structures with microalgae cultivation, delivering major advantages when compared to conventional land-based aquaculture. The use of an off-shore facility would mean higher biomass production and revenues using lower energy because biomass movement is achieved by harnessing ocean currents. The technology can be scaled up or down very easily, to provide for local fuel needs. And, because it can use convenient ocean, sea or even suitable lake locations, there is no requirement to use scarce agriculture land or fresh water resources.
- securing locally produced biofuel as a strategic asset for fuel source diversity;
- selling harvested biomass to be processed into biofuels or speciality products;
- sharing intellectual property rights revenue from licensing the Sea Green design family; and
- reducing pressure on scarce land and fresh water resources.
Bringing the concept to life
To make this vision a reality requires a staged process of testing, scale up, pilot plant and production plant construction with all key stakeholders actively engaged from the outset. The stakeholder engagement is being achieved by the formation of a Sustainable Use of Renewable Fuels (SURF) consortium that will take a structured approach to addressing five major considerations for the successful use of biofuels from a renewable source like micro-algae. These will include: environmental impact; processing; capacity and distribution; commercial and legislation and regulation. Specific studies will look at future sustainability modelling and environmental lifecycle assessment. Formation of the Consortium was announced at the Aviation & Environment Summit in Geneva in September 2010. SURF is made up of Airbus, British Airways, Rolls-Royce, Finnair, Gatwick Airport, the International Air Transport Association and Cranfield University.
The Sea Green project is undertaking staged scale up and industrialisation of a process for large-scale floating biomass production from micro-algae. Modelling and front end engineering design activities have been completed by Cranfield University. The subsequent staged process has the following steps:
- laboratory testing at from 1-litre to 10-litre media scales to define overall performance parameters;
- testing in a small-scale pilot facility on the Cranfield University campus which is growing and processing algae for biofuels at the 1000-litre media scale;
- production of quantities of aviation biofuel at approximately 10,000-litre scales for its use as commercially available test samples for engine testing; and
- development and construction of a larger scale production facility to initially meet the needs of a specific aviation market sector – say for business aviation.
- It is envisaged that the first commercial quantities of products from Sea Green will become available within three years.
Download the case study